Crossing the border with Blue Jays beat reporter Jordan Bastian.

Game 162: Toronto at Baltimore

Blue Jays manager Cito Gaston said that Friday was the worst day of his baseball life. By Sunday morning, as the Jays prepped to wrap up this rocky season, the manager was feeling better about the situation.

“Right now, sure, I feel a lot better,” Gaston said. “I feel a lot better that my players had nothing to do with it. I was just completely surprised to even hear that, because I know how I treat these guys. I know what kind of person I am and I know how I feel about guys on this club. Like I’ve said, there’s not a guy on this club that I dislike.”

Gaston woke on Friday to news that there was “mutiny” in his clubhouse, that players wanted him gone before next year. Anonymous sources in various reports cited negativity and a lack of communcation.

Players went on the record later that day and confirmed that there were some issues in need of addressing. But others said the extent of the issues were blown far out or proportion. It was not that the team did not want Gaston back, just that they had an assortment of team issues that needed to be discussed.

“Small issues turn into big issues and can ruin a season,” catcher Rod Barajas said on Sunday. “There were various small issues. It wasn’t one small issue. Just various issues that us as players felt like we had to get off our chest.”

As far as the original story, which made it seem like it was a team-wide revolt against Gaston, the manager believes the source came from outside the organization.

“Unfortunately, you have to go through something that somebody else planted here,” Gaston said. “I don’t think it came from my players and unfortunately we had to go through that and they had to go through it. And the person that did that, you know what? It will come back to get them in some kind of way. We might not ever find out who did it, but it’ll come back to get them.”

Gaston also found it odd that anyone would say he had an “old school” approach.

“Old school to me is when guys come to you and say, ‘Hey, we’re going to Sarasota, can I drive my car?’ ‘No, get on the bus,'” Gaston said. “Old school is to me if they need to go home to see their family or are having problems. Nope. Stay here. Old school is you can’t go home when your wife is having a baby. Old school is you certainly dont get your own jet and fly your family anywhere. That’s old school. We don’t have that school here.

“I guarantee you, when you’re not playing well, all kinds of stuff comes up. I guarantee if you go to those winning teams, they have problems over there, too. But they just are kind of overlooked because they’re winning. That’s the whole thing.”

5 Comments

It’s funny that they say that it’s sources from outside the organization when Barajas, Hill, Wells, Halladay and Overbay have all come out to say there are problems.

If it’s someone from outside the organization, it’s Rosenthal – the one who broke the “story”. Was it blown out of proportion? Probably. Are there problems. Definitely. The way he manages a game (i.e. Millar hitting cleanup, never pinch hitting, Ruiz on the bench, Carlson overused, and the list goes on and on) is just plain ridiculous, and the players know it. It’s frustrating to watch. I can only imagine how frustrating it is to play.

As for Ricciardi, I’m glad he’s gone now. He had his chance. However, to suggest he leaked the story? I dunno, I doubt it. Why? Maybe he wanted out, and now he got his wish? Or maybe he realized what we all do, that Cito is not a good manager, and he thought this would be a way to rid of him, and possibly go on a run in 2010 with a new manager? If that’s the case, that sure backfired on him.

I doubt Rolen leaked it either. However, what is possible is that Cito was driving Rolen crazy with his attitude and managerial style. And since he didn’t want yet another manager feud, he asked out before it got to that point.

What bothers most about this organization is its unwillingness to “throw the fans a bone!” For example, the fans deserved to see Dopriak, Arencebia, and others as the year wound down. Management had plenty to say about these players when defending their drafting record, but when it came down to it, they chose not give us fans even a glimpse of the future. Next, we have Beeston’s decision to go with, yet another untried, GM. Oh, by the way, did I mention that he is Canadian? Quite frankly, I do not care if he is the greatest GM that has (or ever will) live. That is not the point. At this critical stage of the franchise with club house decent, Halladay on the block, etc. what we fans wanted and what we deserved (having put up with this nonsense for 7 years) was a true professional with a winning track record to be brought in. It surprises me that Beeston is such a clown. He actually thinks that he is selling baseball. He is not selling baseball to any of us. We all know that it will be more of the same next year, plus or minus 5 games. What he should be selling is hope, based on some form of reality; i.e., a proven track record. However, once again, the disconnect. Look at MLSE. They have done it right. Burke and Wilson for the leafs, Coangello for the Raptors. Say what you want, I have more confidence in these three guys than I do in Antho, or any other 32-year old McMaster graduate. It is becoming evident that Jays’ management is beginning to believe their own lies. We are not a small-market team. Rogers has enough money to compete with the Yanks year in and year out. They don’t want to spend the money. We have the 4th largest market in North America. We should have the BEST PRESIDENT, GENERAL MANAGER, MANAGER, and PLAYERS that money could buy. How do I know this, because that is what we had in 1992 and 1993. We had no problem leading the league in spending then. Now, however, we are a small market team. And, of course, small market teams can only afford a Mac grad for GM!!! Think about it, this turkey is going to be responsible for trading DOC — and people were worried about JP? At least JP played the game! Of course, a “senior baseball person” will be brought in to tell him what to do — I mean advise him! This whole franchise is a joke. My advise to Beeston — Hire a real president and give him real authority to take this team in a new direction, retire, and put some socks on. My advise to Antho — take up a sport (e.g., you may want to try baseball?) Honestly dude, you are too young to be as fat and pudgy as you are, get some exercise working the ranks. Finally, Cito, you need to go. You can’t go back to the future!

Burt-interesting rant, but I don’t agree with you. With the exception of 3 teams in MLB, all the rest have went with non baseball GM’s and generally young ones are the trend. Maybe, Theo Epstein, who the Sox hired at 28 rings a bell.

Alex has a major advantage over anyone brought in. He knows the minor league system and players and what needs to be done to improve it. He knows the scouts, knows the current employees, knows the current roster players-their strengths and weaknesses. He spent 3 years in the Expos organization (which I really like) and actually started with us as a scouting director, so he has learnt the ropes. It would take a new guy coming in a year to learn this regardless oh how experienced he is.
Alex is extremely bright, hard working, dedicated and trained by Beeston. Alex is the architect of the Hill contract, the only long term contract issued by the Jays that makes sense which is now being utilized by other teams in MLB who gave Alex great accolades for it.
I guess it”s a good think the Jays didn’t listen to you before they gave Pat Gillick the job, since his first job as GM was with (you guessed it) The Blue Jays.
Beeston is either the best or one of the best baseball executives there is or ever has been. If he’s good enough for Beeston, he’s good enough for me.

By the way don’t get all that carried away by either the Raptors of Leafs yet. Last time I checked they missed the playoffs this year as well.

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